The Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia becomes the latest financial institution from that part of the world to set up shop in the gilded Plaza district.

The Bank of East Asia is the latest in a growing number of financial institutions from the Far East to land in Manhattan.

The institution, which is the third largest bank based in Hong Kong, committed to the entire 10th floor of 540 Madison Ave., a 10,900-square-foot space, for 15 years. Asking rents for the space were $78 per square foot.

The deal is at least the second by an Asian financial institution to get done in that part of the Plaza district in recent months. Last year, East West Bank opened a 14,375-square-foot office at the neighboring office tower 535 Madison Ave.

“We have seen more Asian financial institutions come into the Manhattan market,” said Cynthia Wasserberger, a broker at Jones Lang LaSalle, who represents 540 Madison Ave. in leasing deals.

Other foreign financial institutions have sought out space in the Plaza district as well. The Brazilian banks Banco Itau and Banco Pine, for instance, both opened offices in the neighborhood, paying top-dollar rents to do so.

Ms. Wasserberger explained that many large overseas tenants looking to set up modest offices space-wise in the city look to the Plaza district as an area whose prestige can help them project an outsized presence.

The entry of financial institutions from Asia and Latin America to Manhattan would be a welcome trend as a number of their European peers have shrunk in the face of an ongoing economic crisis on that continent. Financial institutions in general have not been growing in the city, a daunting sign for a market that has counted on the sector for decades to drive space absorption.

“Asian banks haven’t yet put their headquarters functions here,” Ms. Wasserberger said. “They’re still relatively nascent to the New York market but hopefully that’s a trend that will change.”